A tutorial for painting stripes on walls. This step-by-step guide gives all the best tips for painting both horizontal and vertical stripes without bleeding. From accent walls to a single horizontal stripe, you can be confident in getting perfectly crisp paint edging lines!

I’ve been working on our son’s room and he is moving up into his pre-teen years, so it’s makeover time! There are few motifs that have as many possibilities as the classic stripe, so we put a racecar style stripe across his room. I love how fun and really cool his bedroom is going to be.
Over the years, we have done hundreds of painting projects, from mudding walls to whole stenciled rooms, we have learned a ton of tips over the years. Whether you choose vertical or horizontal stripes, thick or thin, or different sheens, this step-by-step guide will have you painting crisp paint lines in no time!
With the right tips and tools, this is also a foolproof beginner project. These tips also work great for edging ceilings, accent walls, or fun mosaic designs.
Recommended Supplies
- 1-inch-wide Painter’s Tape – Green Frog Tape or Scotch Blue Ultra Sharp Lines Tape
- Paint
- Paint brush, foam roller, or other roller that applies thin coats.
- A four-foot Level or Laser Level
- Pencil
- Measuring tape
- Hanging Strips Optional, this was for our design.
- Cardboard hollow Letters Optional, this was just for our design.
What Tape to Use for Painting Crisp Lines?
Painter’s tape has improved a lot in the last few years. While Green Frog Tape is still highly recommended, Scotch Blue has improved their Ultra Sharp Tape and Sharp Tape lines. In our real-world tests, they are almost imperceptible in the ability to make crisp lines. Frog tape sometimes prevents bleeding slightly better than the Sharp, but the Ultra Sharp releases better with less chipping or tearing, especially for Satin or high gloss paint.
This is my personal opinion, but never use the Scotch Blue Original or Scotch Blue that is made to stretch. I strongly despise this stretchy tape. I haven’t seen it recently, which is why I can’t show an example. However, if you look at the tape itself, it looks slightly wrinkled like it is made to stretch.
How To Paint Stripes on a Wall
Many people don’t realize that walls are not straight. Even if the drywall is put up perfectly straight, the mudding in the corners is never going to be perfect. With long walls, it is very common to find large dips or bumps.
Step 1: Paint Your Base Color
You can paint the base (lighter color or flatter sheen) first across the entire wall, including the stencil area.
Step 2: Mark Your Lines
The most ideal way to make a straight line is with a laser level and mark with pencil. If you don’t have one, you can measure down from the ceiling for horizontal lines and use a level to remove any noticeable dips or bows. For vertical lines, a long level is a great tool.
To get a perfectly even stripes in my design, I spaced the lines using a 1-inch strip of tape, then peeled the middle strip off. It saved a lot of time measuring!
Tips for laying tape:
- Use long sections (1 whole strip if you can). Doing 18-24+ inches at a time will give you much more even lines that look visually straighter than short sections.
- Cut corners at 45 degrees with scissors. This design has 90 degree turns in it. For the sharpest corners, cut the tape with scissors rather than tearing it.
- Overlap new sections. If you have to use more than 1 piece of tape for a single line, overlap the new section by about an inch and do your best to line up the edges.
Step 3: Paint Your Design
To get a truly crisp line, make sure to burnish the edges. Burnishing is just a fancy way of saying to rub your finger along the edge to lock it to the surface. This is especially important if you have any texture in your walls at all.
You can use a small foam roller or a paint brush. I recommend thin coats because the moisture from thick coats can sometimes cause paper tape to release prematurely or buckle.
Pro Tip*: Burnishing edges is especially important if you have textured walls. If the texture is heavy, you may find it best to paint the existing color over the tape, allow to dry, and then paint the accent color for the best possible lines. This will fill in any areas that may bleed.
Step 4: Pulling the Tape
I usually try to pull the tape when the paint is still fully wet. Especially for satin or high gloss paints, if the paint becomes tacky, let it dry for several hours before pulling. Paint that dries on top but wet underneath is more likely to pull away.
If you used more than 1 piece of tape to make a line, pull from where you first taped. Then, you can pull it all in one section.
Pull the tape back on itself and slightly at an angle away from your desired crisp line.
To make the vertical lines, I used a level to make a straight line perpendicular to the ceiling.
Look at that! Clean, crisp lines.
Lastly, I painted some hollow cardboard letters the same red paint as the stripe. I used the hanging strips and put them near the edge so that if they needed removal, I could grab the tape with pliers.
I am extremely happy with how it turned out. When I painted the first outside lines, I did get skeptical that it would be too bold, but hubby insisted I finish, and I am glad I did. Sometimes, you should listen to the wisdom of your loved ones. (If he is reading this, he probably just fainted because yes, honey, you were right).
More Boy Bedroom projects
- World Map Wall Art (with free files!)
- A Stylish Kid’s Closet with Book Storage
- Building A Custom Closet in A Day
- Easy Kid’s Art Display Ideas
FAQs
While green Frog Tape is still highly recommended, Scotch Blue has improved their Ultra Sharp Tape and Sharp Tape lines. In our real-world tests, they are almost imperceptible in the ability to make crisp lines. Frog tape prevents bleeding a tiny bit better than Scotch, but the Ultra Sharp releases better with less chipping or tearing.
The width of stripes is completely up to you, but most commonly between 4-12 inches wide for the main stripes. You can also vary the width between the two colors (1-inch-wide accent stripe followed by 12-inch base for example) for a unique look.
If your stripes are evenly spaced, measure the wall (width for vertical, height for horizontal), and divide the measurement by your stripe width. If your stripes are not evenly spaced, divide the wall measurement by the measurement of both stripes. This will give you how many stripe sections you will have.
There are two reasons paint will pull off with tape: the paint under the tape did not fully dry, or the paint wasn’t well bonded to the wall. Fresh paint under seven days old is often not dry all the way through. Lower quality paints are more likely to pull away. Another common mistake is not priming a surface, particularly if you patch with spackle or mud a corner. These must be primed and paint + primer does not count.
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How To Paint Wall Stripes
Tools
- Paint Brush
- Foam Roller
- Handi Pail optional
Supplies
- Painter's Tape *See Note for Brands
- Paint
Instructions
- Paint your base coat. This should either be the main color or the lightest and flattest color. For instance, if you are painting a flat color and a satin, paint the flat first all over the wall. Paint should dry at least a few days, but 7+ is optimal especially for high gloss or cheap paints.
- Mark your Lines. Mark Your Lines with Pencil. The most ideal way to make a straight line is with a laser level and mark with pencil. If you don't have one, you can measure down from the ceiling for horizontal lines and use a level to remove any noticeable dips or bows. For vertical lines, a level is a great tool.
- Tape along the outside lines. Work in long sections, at least 18 inches, to get visually straight lines. If your lines have corners, use scissors to cut the corners rather than tearing.
- Paint the accent color. Make sure to burnish edges just before painting to eliminate bleed through. Use a brush or foam roller to add thin coats.
- Remove the tape. For satin or high gloss paints, don't remove while the paint is tacky. This makes the paint more likely to stretch and ruin the crisp line. Pull the tape back on itself, at an angle away from the line, and gently pull. Use a razor knife or box cutters to release the tape from trouble spots.
- Allow to Dry. You can touch up any areas needed after the paint is entirely dry.
ANG says
That looks so cool! Thanks for sharing this at Cook it! Craft it! Share it! (I pinned this to the party board) I can’t wait to see what you link up this week!
Ang
Shanice says
Looks great! I would love it if you joined and contribute your awesome posts at my link party at City of Creative Dreams , starts on Fridays 😀 Hope to see you there at City of Creative Dreams Link Party.
Pam@over50feeling40 says
Such a great idea! Thanks for sharing on the Thursday Blog Hop how to do this!
Jess says
OH my gosh! This is SUCH a neat idea!
Thanks again for joining the Link Up this week!
Rebeccafaith says
It looks SOOOO GOOD. Geeze, I want this to be my room! Wait, now I want to see YOUR room. My husband is always right and it’s soo annoying. Especially because I always challenge him and then he turns out to be right, you’d think I’d learn by now. How is it possible he’s right 99% of the time? Grrr.
Rachel says
Honestly, our room will probably be last. I haven’t decided quite how I want to go with it and still use everything we already have. Husbands, lol. Gotta love them! But they were right about one thing: choosing us, right?! haha
Rebeccafaith says
Oh that’s too good! I always forget to pop my collar and throw that one out there lol
Amanda (Moming About) says
I absolutely love this! I have never taken the tape off while paint is still wet. I need to try that. What do you do if you’re doing two coats?
Rachel says
I find that removing the tape while still tacky or wet prevents tearing or chipping of the paint and you get a smoother edge. You can do it while dry if careful. I was standing on the ground while removing the tape so I was anything but careful. Because of the brightness with this, I did two coats as well. I did half of the design and then put the second coat immediately on it before removing the tape. Constantly moving the ladder was the most arduous thing about this design. Thanks for stopping by!
Amanda (Moming About) says
Oh my. I hate painting when it requires lots of ladder moving. It is very tiresome!
Jhanis says
Love it! Lovingly personlized! I just hope I can pull this off for my kids’ playroom! I’m so bad when it comes to paints!
Natasha Rodriguez Mom 2 5321 says
Very COOL! I LOVE IT!! PINNING FOR LATER!! 🙂
Marilyn Lesniak says
I love that the stripes don’t run the full height of the room. And orange is a nice uplifting warm color. Someday I will admit what my 11 year old wanted. I gave him full reign as he always got the “baby” room being the youngest. Thx for bring this to MM!
Simple nature decor says
The room looks so good and very smart looking.. I love frogs tape.. Use it all the time.. Thanks for coming to my party..
Maria
Leslie says
I love it, it looks great. I also love command hooks or anything command. It makes it so easy to decorate. I hope he likes his room.
Rachel says
We just got his bed in this weekend. And yes he loves it! The projects I have planned for his room are so fun and all boy!